Israel's Critical Security Needs for a Viable Peace

Families in the U.S. fear for safety of Arab Christian relatives

by Jeff Brumley

Forgive Michael Kassab if he isn't whistling "Jingle Bells" and joking around with friends about who's been naughty or nice this year.

On the contrary, Kassab said he's finding it difficult to get into the spirit at all because his Christian relatives and friends in Iraq are experiencing increased persecution. It's a bleak reality made horrifyingly evident in October when Muslim terrorists stormed a Baghdad church and massacred more than 60 worshipers. One of the many wounded in the attack was Kassab's sister.

"It's very scary and frightening," he said after attending a prayer service at his church, St. Ephrem Syriac Catholic Church in Jacksonville. "How do I celebrate when I know my family is completely in danger?"

That gut-churning question plagues most members of the parish, about half of whom are from Iraq. The rest are from other Middle Eastern nations where Christians are also besieged.

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Iraqi churches cancel Christmas festivities

by Yahya Barzanji
and Sameer N. Yacoub

KIRKUK, Iraq – No decorations, no midnight Mass. Even an appearance by Santa Claus has been nixed after Iraq's Christian leaders called off Christmas celebrations amid new al-Qaida threats on the tiny community still terrified from a bloody siege on a Baghdad church.

Christians across Iraq have been living in fear since the assault on Our Lady of Salvation Church as its Catholic congregation was celebrating Sunday Mass. Sixty-eight people were killed. Days later Islamic insurgents bombed Christian homes and neighborhoods across the capital.

On Tuesday, al-Qaida insurgents threatened more attacks on Iraq's beleaguered Christians, many of whom have fled their homes or the country since the church attack. A council representing Christian denominations across Iraq advised its followers to cancel public celebrations of Christmas out of concern for their lives and as a show of mourning for the victims.

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Merry Christmas From Radical Islam

by Daily Mail Reporter

Terrorists are plotting deadly Christmas attacks in what could make for holiday travel chaos.

Iraqi authorities have obtained confessions from captured insurgents who claim Al Qaeda is planning suicide attacks in the United States and Europe during the holiday season.

Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani said that the botched bombing in central Stockholm last weekend was among the alleged plots the insurgents revealed.

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The Murderers of Christianity

by Patrick J. Buchanan

Sunday, on the eve of All Saints' Day, Nov. 1, 2010, the faithful gathered at the Assyrian Catholic Church of Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad.

As Father Wassim Sabih finished the mass, eight al-Qaida stormed in, began shooting and forced him to the floor. As the priest pleaded that his parishioners be spared, they executed him and began their mission of mass murder.

When security forces broke in, the killers threw grenades to finish off the surviving Christians and detonated explosive-laden vests to kill the police. The toll was 46 parishioners and two priests killed, 78 others wounded, many in critical condition after losing limbs.

Within 48 hours, al-Qaida in Mesopotamia issued a bulletin: "All Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the (holy warriors)."

It was the worst massacre of Christians yet.

America remains the most Christianized of the Western nations. Yet, the protests of the White House, State Department and major media over the eradication of Christianity in the Middle East is muted.

Where is the outrage? Are we so wary of offending Muslim sensibilities or inflaming Muslim rage we cannot denounce the pogroms perpetrated against Christians in the name of Allah?

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51 Iraqi worshipers, 7 troops killed in church siege

by Ernesto Londoño and Aziz Alwan

BAGHDAD - The worshipers heard the first shots and explosions about 20 minutes after the beginning of Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Salvation Church.

Heads turned, the sermon stopped abruptly and the Rev. Wassem Sabeeh quietly began ushering parishioners into a fortified room in the rear of the church.

"We realized these explosions were close," said Bassam Sami, 21, one of the survivors of the attack on a Baghdad church carried out by heavily armed suicide bombers that left at least 58 people dead. "Father Wassem started pushing people inside the room."

Once they penetrated the church building, the silent assailants began executing people. "They were well trained," Sami said. "They didn't say anything. It was like someone had cut out their tongues."

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Two Assyrian priests who were presiding over Sunday evening Mass were among those slain during the hours-long encounter. One priest was executed and the other was reportedly killed in an explosion, fellow priest Meyassr Portus said.

"People come here just to pray," Portus said Monday, weeping outside the church as residents swept broken glass off the street and repair crews fixed windows and mangled electrical wires. "They are trying to destroy humanity here. Christians just want to live in peace."


In all, 51 worshipers were killed, including at least eight women and five children, Iraqi authorities said. Nearly 60 people were wounded in the exchange of gunfire and the blasts inside the church.

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Combat is over in Iraq?

Obama says “Combat is over in Iraq,” soldiers say “What the hell are you talking about?”

Think of it as President Obama’s Mission Accomplished moment. The moment, that is, when he announced that the American combat mission in Iraq was over thanks to his decisive leadership.

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A Quran that was burned

"We hate no one. Some of us in fact are Muslims, some of us are not, but all of us unifiedly believe that the rule of Islam, the laws of Quran and Sharia over people turned our country, Iran, to a slaughterhouse of innocent men and women. Turned it to the Islamic Iran which is the record holder for executions and amputations."

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